Car Features: 1957 Ford & 1967 Ford Fairlane GT

Here’s a couple of cars I took some pics of at the Fishkill car show in October. The first one up is a 1957 Ford Sheriff’s car. I originally dismissed this as just a nice car “done up” as a period Sheriff’s car. The reason I did not even consider it to be authentic is that it is a 2-door, and most law enforcement cars are 4-doors. But I did some research and found that before probably the 1970’s, it was not uncommon to find 2-door cars used many times as, that’s right, Sheriff’s cars. So unfortunately, due to my ignorance, I did not really take as detailed a look at this car as I might have.
You can see this car has a permanent “suspect” in the back seat. When people start with the stuffed animals and dolls and such as adornment, I immediately lose interest in the vehicle. This is another reason I dismissed this car.
This car also has what appear to be period-correct roof light and siren. These would seem to me to be difficult to get, but I suppose the right person would know where they are. Perhaps they really are original to the car?
I think it is a huge commitment to have as your personal collector vehicle such a dedicated car as a Sheriff’s car, either as a recreation or an authentic survivor vehicle. I guess some people would welcome this notoriety, but a cop car would be way down my list of cars I’d like to own, if it was even on my list. I’m not sure even the most attention-hungry person would want to always have to tool around in this, when he could have done his car in any of a dozen different styles.

My conclusion is that this is probably an authentic 1957 Ford Sheriff’s car.

This car is a 1967 Ford Fairlane GT. It is a fantastic brandywine color, and the condition of it is impeccable. For the 1960’s, this was considered a sporty mid-size car. I like it’s lean lines, it looks almost athletic to me.
It features a beautiful contrasting white interior, and factory chromed styled-steel wheels. The engine features dual quads (two four-barrel carburetors).
One cool thing to take note of is the original-style windshield-washer reservoir bag on the driver’s side inner front fender. Ford used this flexible bag style reservoir instead of a bottle or canister in the 1960’s, quite different from what I’m used to seeing on my GM cars.
Another thing I like is this factory-original style reproduction battery. Battery? Big deal, you say. When I’m looking at a nice restoration such as this, I want to be transported back in time, and believe I’m standing there looking at this car in 1967. Everything else is refurbished to give that impression, right? Well nothing ruins that vibe more than when I see a car like this with a big green modern Exide or Interstate sealed-top battery seemingly transported 40 years backward in time. These repro batteries are not cheap, but they are available. So top marks to this Fairlane!

Happy Thanksgiving to all !